Fishfinders - Which Brand for mid priced units?

[ccmtcanada]

Ok...it's coming time for me to buy some electronics for the boat and the first thing is a fishfinder.

 

I've got it down to two brands....Eagle and Humminbird. I know Lowrance and Garmin make great units, but they seemed a little pricey for me. I'm looking to spend between $200 and $300 (the closer to $200 the better...LOL). I'll be fishing mostly shallower lakes (Kawarthas), so I'll be looking for something with a wide beam. For jigging, a narrow beam would be good too, but if I could only choose one, I'd choose the wide beam.

 

So, if you've ever bought a Humminbird or Eagle, what has your experience been? I'm looking for overall satisfaction of the brand...customer service, quality, reliability etc....

 

I've had some great advice from Fishnsled and Slowpoke, but wanted to open it up to everyone else for their opinions. Please leave a comment about your choice if you have the time.

 

Thanks everyone!

[Vanselena]

Lowrance is Eagle

[ccmtcanada]

Lowrance is Eagle

 

Thanks for your reply...I do know that they are the same company with different quality brand names. Lowrance models tend to have more bells and whistles...stuff I dont really need, that's why I'm looking at Eagle.

[danbo]

Ford or Chev? Daiwa or Shimano? They both do what they claim..

I got an Eagle Cuda for my kayak.

[danbo]

http://www.fishfinder-store.com/eagle-fishfinder.html

[NBR]

A few years back I wouldn't have considered the Humminbird but they are much improved with many pixels. If I was buying today they would get my attention.

 

I would think about the wide cone vs narrow. I believe with a wide cone on moderately steep drop you get the average depth from one side of the cone to the other so you don't get a true bottome picture. I don't really look for fish on inland lakes. I am much more concerned about bottom change, cover and bait.

[b2kptbo]

Cliff, I have both and now are older middle of the road models, Humminbird (9yrs old, triple beam) fixed too the boat and the Eagle (14yrs, single beam) is rigged as a portable. They both do what each model is supposed to with the only draw back on the Humminbird is with the transduser having a flat bottom sometimes at top speed I lose the bottom depth, may be on the new models the transduser has changed. Hope this helps...

[boatman]

I'm in the same position as you, Cliff. I'm considering a step up to a mid priced sonar. My Humminbird is a cheap PiranhaMax 20. I bought it for finding structure, but now that I'm also fishing deeper waters for whitefish/lake trout and running and exploring new waters I find it grossly under performing. It loses bottom tracking if I go much over 15 kmh (less than half throttle). My buddies Humminbird does the same thing. I've been looking at the Lowrance x96 and the Eagle.

[Garyv]

Like many brands people have their preferences on which is a better unit for the money. I've had some of both and for some reason just prefer the eagle/lowrance units.

[Greencoachdog]

I've always used Humminbirds and have never had a problem with them. I've just recently upgraded to the Humminbird 747c, it hasn't arrived yet... but i'll let you know what I think about it after I've used it.

[fishindevil]

Well cliff,its a personal choice,and if money is the issue,i would still go with the eagle,they have some really good units for the price,and you still have to remember 1 thing right you only get what you pay for,at least get something with a minimum of 1200 watts and 500 rms,that laterr being the most important !!!!! good-luck and if you need help,im here as well as could probly get you at least the savings of the tax,from my bud !!!! cheers

[Gerritt]

Cliff, I picked up a Eagle 500c for 349.00 from Angling Specialities it is a colour unit w/ a 5" screen, they also have grey scales units there as well...

 

I have yet to install mine (this spring).. but from playing with it and from everything I heard it is a great little unit.

 

I am going back to Angling Specialities in Feb to swap out my Navionics card.. let me know if your interested and I will pick it up for you... we'll work everything things else out after that.

 

G.

[fishindevil]

Hey cliff,that unit gerritt has is a great unit for the price,its color and has alot of options that a lowrance or humminbird unit would have for twice the cost,the eagle units like that one have greatly improved the last few years ,i know you would thank yourself many times over for spending just that little bit mare for that unit,and trust me cliff,it does make a difference,in the options ,and things that you would not see on lesser units, like bottom composition & grayline,it will help give you more details therefore uping your catch,the little things, like paying attention to detail put more fish in the boat man !!!!! good unit gerritt....

[dwc67]

i have a 757c that works very well. i used to use a fishmark that crapped out after three years. it wouldn't read in water over 40ft deep and since i spend most of my time in 50 to 300 in lake o it was useless. replaced the transducer and power cables with no change.

[skeeter]

i have an older eagle fish easy but it has the wide beam and i like it.

the only problem i've had with it is when Tracker turns his lowrance X67

my sending unit went crazy

i was seeing all kinds of fish when his wasnt

and we were not getting any bites--lol

i think we were to close together as we were in his ice condiminium--lol

 

Dann

[Grimace]

I had a Eagle fisheasy 320c before I upgraded. It was an excellent little unit, and it fishfinding ability was very good. I believe it is right in your price range.

 

Good luck with whatever you choose.

 

Cheers

[Vanselena]

As far as wide vs narrow cone is concerned, Wide cones are better if you are fishing suspended fish, narrow cones concentrate the power and give better returns.

 

As far as power is concerned if you are fishing 20' or shallower then 800 watts peak to peak (100watts RMS) is fine. Depths of 20' to 300' you need 2500 watts peak to peak power (300 watts RMS ) and over 300' you need 600 watts RMS or more.

 

With Lowrance is now owned by Navico, the largest sonar company in the world. I'm not sure if this helps or hurts...lol.

[Greencoachdog]

The narrow beam also shoots a lot deeper than the wide beam.

 

The Humminbird 700 series comes with a dual beam transducer that can be switched from wide to narrow, or use both at the same time for the best pic.

[Big Cliff]

I have one of each and prefer the Eagle by far over the Hummingbird. The Hummingbird has the tripple beam transducer which I thought would be good for shallow water. I can sit in my boat and be jigging, catching fish, and nothing shows up on the unit (yes, I've adjusted it) The Eagle is a portable and I can go ice fishing with it and see a small jig in 50' of water no problems. In fact I am thinking of getting rid of the humming bird this spring and mounting the eagle in the boat.

 

Don't get me wrong, the Hummingbird does a super job as far as finding structure is concerned and it will hold bottem up to about 20 mph in 10+' of water, I just find the Eagle preforms better and I have more confidance in it.

 

I'd love to have a high end unit but just can't afford one right now and I'm not sure it would do much more for me than the Eagle already does. I think I picked it up at CTC for about $230.00 a couple of years ago.

[grt1]

I've been looking for a while now, My wife had her hummingbird give up the ghost on her (power button crapped out) and I've been looking at the Lowrance X91 and the eagle fishmark 480. for the same money $199 at cabelas and bass pro the price is right but I'm leaning toward the eagle as it is 480 x 480 pixels compared to 320 x320 on the lowrance.

 

For the type of fishing I do, recreational, not tournament, I think the eagle will be my choice. unless something comes up in a better buy.

 

a couple weeks ago I was looking at colour units when I was in winnipeg but the extra cost can't be justified for my use. another interesting thing I found was the x91 was listed at Wholesale sports (a new big box store in Winnipeg) at $599. Where's the price difference justification for a $400 difference?

[ccmtcanada]

Great input here everyone! Thanks a lot for taking the time...and esp those who PMd me...it's much appreciated. I'm leaning towards Eagle, but some of the new Humminbirds are hard to pass up as well. I'll let you know which one I end up getting!

[Guest lundboy]

Your poll didn't include a question about failure rates.

 

I've had 2 Humminbirds over the years, and both have failed and had to go in for some major repair. One in warranty, and one out of warranty. Both times electronics failures that basically rendered the unit unusable. Both times related to a solder connection giving way. (probably from boat bounce).

 

I have owned 3 Lowrance/Eagle units, not one failure... nothing (knock on wood).

Edited February 18, 2008 by lundboy

[Handlebarz]

I was always a eagle man until last year I had done alot of research on new units and fianally went out and got a hummingbird 565 that unit is great it has dual beam and is very accurate when jigging for pickeral I could watch the fish move in and out from the shole I was on dad and I watched as the boat would drift in and out from shore maybe a 10' drift in with the breese then back out again anyway the bottom would go from 10' and drop to 22' that is where we were parked and each time we would dridt into the 10' top we would mark small fish and get a rockbass from the huge school when we would drift back out we would hit the pickeral it was very cool to watch a big mark coming up about 15' on the next pass in the rockbass were gone one of the big pickeral chasd them off they were gone for the next three passes and then we could see them again and start getting them again this unit is great.I bought the one with temp also I did not need the speed I love the split screen and if needed it has a huge screen also its got alot of pixels also I would not hessitate on buying another one.

 

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/template...&hasJS=true

[Reef Runner]

I had an ol' Humminbird Wide and agree with most that sometimes when drivin' faster than 20mph the trans doesn't respond and you'll find yourself markin mysterious amounts of fish in 300+ fow when it's really 20 feet down there.

 

Got an eagle/lowrance on the pontoon and have never had problems with it. If you fish the Kawartha's you might be inclned to go with the Eagle for the reasons I've mentioned above. In shallow water it's good to know when the bottoms comin up quickly at high speeds or else you might be in the market for some props, lol.

 

reefrunner